next Saturday.

I think you're right that they are a #1 seed, period.  But I believe they are the weakest #1 seed and should lose in the 3rd or 4th round of the NCAA's.

They simply don't have a resume.  They play in a horribly weak conference and have not been tested.  They have only two wins over currently ranked opponents.  They've had several squeakers against middling competition in their conference lately.  They will NOT be in the Final Four.

A Memphis win over some real competition like the Vols next week would help improve their standing.  But I still don't see them in San Antonio unless they're wearing jeans in the stands.

A lots of the FT misses were front rims, usually a sign of tired legs.
They may not be recovering in between games playing 35-40 minutes a game 2-3 times in six days.

I wonder if icing his legs after games would help his body recuperate; ice his whole body. Like they do with distance runners, especially if they have two races in a day. I saw this at the high school championship level.

The body's ability to recoup is also a function of the purging of carbon dioxide; great distance runners usually have this ability, just more efficient than the normal person. You would think other athletes, soccer and basketball players, probably some in football, to share such an physical ability.

If you are asking a player to spend an extraordinary amount of time on the field, to play to exhaustion for whatever choice, you should also offer his body a well to recuperate quickly and the experience to not have an accumulated impact on the body.

When basketball players move on to track, their legs take two to three weeks to recover from playing on wooden floors. The surface itself induces a certain adaptation but exacts a certain toll for it. The longer the duration of play, the greater the toll. This is not a big percentage but it is noticeable, especially to track coaches who have also seen the same kids in football on a different surface.

I certainly think DJ could be suffering a certain court fatigue that has been accumulating. He's worked hard for a long time and to me just doesn't seem as fresh and rested on the court. I'm sure at the college level there's a whole range of remedies but my observation is that there is no definite solution except a certain amount of rest.

There may be something else. There could be a learning curve for the distribution game; it' not like Rick to leave players uninstructed as to their responsibilities and options. But adaptation takes feedback, thought and physical integration into his game and reflection and analysis afterward. Basketball is an intuitive game and doesn't tolerate indecision. Opportunity has a very finely timed edge.

Just some thoughts, no real conclusions. I remember Terrence Wrencher had a period where he couldn't hit well at all. Not a slump, a slight physical problem. He'd sprained his wrist and it should have been completely heated but it just wasn't the same smooth stroke, particularly on the outside shots. As I remember, he went to a massage expert who discovered that the fascia - the really thin layer (think film over a skinned deer ham) - had rolled up into itself, and she was able to massage it back into place. Voila! In 24 hours he was back to his old scoring machine self on the court. Simple and real.

You just never know.

That was actually exactly what I was thinking as the 2nd half progressed.  It is encouraging in that it means the horns can at least play some minutes without Abrams and not go down the tubes.

there are a lot of opportunity costs associated with playing Abrams and Augustin nearly 40 minutes/game.  Augustin's slump is likely because his legs are tired (my SWAG).  If he got some rest during the game, maybe his legs would not be so dead and he could start shooting his normal way.

Also, the horns probably don't fast break because they are trying to not totally exhaust Augustin and Abrams.  This is a huge penalty to pay when you consider how fast and talented the horns first 6 is.

I have been tough on Augustin's passing since I have higher expectations of Augustin than most.  Augustin has the skills and intelligence to be the best point guard in the NCAA.  We saw a glimpse of that against Baylor.  I have thought for a while that Augustin can probably be successful either as a player or as a coach and (prior to the Baylor game) would have liked to see him display a more coach like attitude at point guard. I am very encouraged by Augustin's performance in the Baylor game and think that if he keeps this pass first attitude, the horns make a big improvement in their O.  Augustin obviously can still take the one on one approach as the shot clock goes down (if the initial play that was run early in the shot clock does not work).

I guess I did not make clear what I meant about improving the horns offense without Abrams.  What I meant to communicate is not that the horns can be a better offensive team without Abrams than with Abrams (that is absurd).  My point is that the horns were not very efficient offensively without Abrams and can play offensively (with some practise and improved straegy) better without Abrams than they exhibited against Baylor.  this makes sense when you consider that they have so little practise playing without Abrams on the floor.

I have not called for Abrams to not play but I think that if he (and Augustin) would get some rest during the game, it would make it possible for the horns to run and get easy buckets.

Certainly the horns best offensive 5 is Augustin, Abrams, Connor, Gary, and Damion.

The sky is the limit for Augustin WRT assists.  He could get absurd numbers of assists if he focuses on it.  He can easily get more than 7 or 8 assists per game if he wants to.  I was not kidding about 15 assists.  

Assuming he has his legs and is shooting normally, the D has to oeverreact to him when he has the ball.  But Augustin is also amazing at dribbling the ball and penetrating.  This means that, pretty much anytime he wants to, he can draw two players to him and still have the ball totally under control and have his body in balance.  this means he has done all the hard work to get an assist, he just has to pass the ball to the open guy.

The effect on the horn offense could be amazing (actually we already saw the effect in the 48 point second half).  

I think the next step is to give him a little rest each half (easier said than done) so he is not exhausted by the end of the game.  This might also restore the bounce to his legs and cure his shooting slump.  this would also permit the horns to fast break which would another huge improvement in the offense.

Regarding the D, I had no complaints about 3 point D.  Baylor hit 8 for 31 (25.8%) for the game.  I'll take that every time.  My complaint was that when Baylor finally pretty much gave up on hitting 3's, they could drive on Augustin (and to a lesser extent Abrams) at will.  I was focusing on this both in realtime and replays.  Part of it might be that Augustin was exhausted, I don't know.  What I do know is that UT can't consistently give up dribble drive penetration or the bigs (like Connor and Damion) are going to get into foul trouble (especially on the road.